Monday, August 09, 2004

Lions and hyenas

I have 2 sons, ages 5 and 3, who watch The Lion King. As every parent knows, when your children are happy, you are happy, and so when they want to watch a movie, you cannot help but watch it as well. Thousands of times if need be.
In this movie, Simba is the infant son of Mufasa, a noble ruler of his part of the jungle. Mufasa grooms his son to be a worthy heir, and teaches him all about life, particularly about respect and balance.
Mufasa also has a brother, Scar, who is the quintessential bad guy. Scar is a deadbeat, physically inferior to his brother, but clever. Mufasa is aware that his brother schemes, but his nobility and mercy are abused by Scar, and ultimately lead to his death, plotted by Scar, who chases off young Simba and takes over the Lion Kingdom with the help of the evil hyenas.
Simba eventually returns, fullgrown, to reclaim the thrown and depose Scar.

The Lion King is a childrens movie. Everything in it is black-and-white. It is tempting to project such fantasy on real life.

In real life, hyenas are not cowards. Contrary to what many people believe, they are not primarily carrion-eaters but catch a lot of their own prey. They are excellent parents, and have a strong social life.

Lions in contrast steal the prey hyenas catch more often than the other way around. Lions have a lot of in-fighting, often males get killed by others while defending their position as pride leader. They also routinely kill cubs, sometimes even their own, just to stimulate the females' willingness to mate again.

I do regard most Arabs/Muslims as movie-hyenas. Incapable of a real fight except when led by a lion (albeit a rogue one). Eaters of carrion, unable to provide for themselves, preying on what others create and earn.

I do see the Jews as movie-lions. There are relatively few of them (compared to hyenas), but they count for far more. There are rogue lions there too, but they are usually easily recognized (although they may not have scars). Jews take care of themselves, groom their children to do even better. They are also noble and merciful where their enemies would not be, and these traits are often costly.

Lions are becoming an endangered species. So are Jews.

Real lions and hyenas are genetically programmed to behave the way they do. Human beings have no such excuse. Of course Arabs and Jews are physically capable of coexisting. But as long as the mentality of the movie-hyena rules in Arabia, the Lions of Zion had better takes care of their cubs.

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